The Incarnate Solution (John 1)

I’ll be working through John’s Gospel, one chapter each day, up to the end of 2019 posting some observations, questions, and thoughts about each chapter.

John 1

As I read John chapter 1, a couple things strike me as interesting.

First, John writes “He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”

How could that be? How could the very people that God created drift into separation from him? The answer comes down in verse 29, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Problem: Sin separates us from God.

Solution: Jesus (the Word) “became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14).

Jesus is the solution to sin, but also the one that will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

The Pharisees asked John why he was baptizing, if he wasn’t the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet. John replied, “I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel” (1:31).

John’s mission was to point to Jesus so that Israel would see their Messiah. He “bore witness” to Jesus, pointed to Jesus as the only way to be reunited to God.

Just in case someone reading chapter 1 is not clear that Jesus was God and the only One capable of removing one’s sin, John continues by referring to Jesus with 7 titles between verse 36 and 51:

1. The lamb of God (:36)

2. Rabbi (:38)

3. The Messiah (:41)

4. Jesus of Nazareth (:45)

5. The Son of God (:49)

6. The King of Israel (:49)

7. The Son of Man (:51)

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming in the flesh, dwelling among us, and removing my sin!

May we all point others to Jesus today!